


26 hours (1,789 miles)

by Quicksilver_Rain



Category: Thrilling Intent (Web Series)
Genre: F/M, Getting Together, Job Loss, POV Thog, Roadtrips, Sort Of, This is Real Soft, Thog Keeps Accidentally Adopting Strays, Thog and Dont are Best Friends
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-23
Updated: 2019-02-23
Packaged: 2019-11-04 04:29:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,704
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17891486
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Quicksilver_Rain/pseuds/Quicksilver_Rain
Summary: Thog was a light sleeper, he always had been, but it came especially in handy when he was dealing with one or more of the, frankly, crazy people he let board in his too-big house.He didn't know when that particular habit had started, only that one day, he'd woken up and suddenly he was playing landlord for several people he could swear had been coughed up from some weird fantasy world.





	26 hours (1,789 miles)

**Author's Note:**

> This is more or less cross-posted from Tumblr, with a couple things re-written and more paragraphs for readability.

Thog was a light sleeper, he always had been, but it came especially in handy when he was dealing with one or more of the, frankly, crazy people he let board in his too-big house.

He didn't know when that particular habit had started, only that one day, he'd woken up and suddenly he was playing landlord for several people he could swear had been coughed up from some weird fantasy world.

Donata, or as he’d nicknamed her some years before Dont, his longtime neighbor and the closest thing he had to a best friend said it was the girl that started it.

_Thog_ said that it wasn't _his_ fault that people had a very bad habit of showing up on his doorstep worse for wear and somehow worming their way into his good graces.

But yes, he could concede, the girl had been the one to start it:

She'd arrived one spring day while he and Dont were arguing about his grandmother’s carrot cake recipe, knocking on his door and staring blankly at him when he opened it. At the time, she’d been a little shorter than he was, all graying hair and luminous gold eyes, swaying gently in exhaustion.

_Sorry_ , she'd said, _I just got off a greyhound and don't know where I am. Can you give me some directions?_

Thog had let her in, and Dont proceeded to mother the girl half to death, even going so far as to give her some of Thog’s old clothes to sleep in as she all but strong armed their guest into his room to sleep.

Her name was Ashe, she'd said that night over dinner, still wearing Thog’s street hockey jersey and looking less world weary, she'd graduated a couple years before and couldn't stand her father anymore. So here she was, if they could just give her directions to the nearest hotel.

Thog had slept on the couch until he and Dont could wrangle an extra mattress from one of her friends.

Ashe found a job in town shortly thereafter and somehow never left.

Markus and Kier came shortly after that.

Thog had almost slammed the door in their faces because they’d nearly burnt down the pecan tree in Dont's backyard the night before, _camping_ , they’d said.

He only ended up letting them in because at least they weren't setting fires if they were under a roof.

Mostly.

They both slept in what had once been an office, curled around each other on the floor, until he'd been able to get them something to sleep on. A futon first and a bed later, though they didn't seem to mind as long as they had enough blankets to drape over a couple stolen kitchen chairs to make a fort.

They'd run away from home too, sort of.

Markus had, Kier hadn't and that was all either one of them said about it unless alcohol was involved. Thog didn't mind as long as they paid the rent and didn't light anything on fire.

They only mostly complied.

Gregor had come last.

Thog had let him in because he'd looked twelve and let him stay because he’d actually only been _eighteen_ , looking to go to the nearby college for a degree in communications or political science or something else Thog didn't really understand. He'd somehow taken up residence in the second guest room, all earnest smiles and chipper optimism.

It made Thog sick sometimes, but Gregor was nice enough, and Dont liked him, so he let the boy stay.

He supposed, looking up at the ceiling and listening to someone move around the house, this was his penance for being so nice to what amounted to a bunch of strangers:

Constant nighttime disruption.  

He glanced at the clock, blearily reading the fluorescing numbers, before deciding that three o'clock was too early for someone needing to get to their workplace.

Thog sat up, running his fingers through his hair and tugging at his shirt before rolling out of bed and stumbling to his door. He opened it to find Ashe on the other side, fully dressed, with a bag swung over her shoulder as she made her way to the stairs.

“What’re you doing?”

She jumped and nearly dropped her things, whirling around silently and squinting into the darkness until she found him, or rather, the shape of him framed in the doorway of his still dark room. She didn't speak and Thog slipped into the hall, motioning for her to follow as he made his way to the kitchen.

The light was weak and watery, but it caught in her eyes, turning them yellow like a predator’s and made her look like some kind of warrior transported to his kitchen. Thog folded his arms and leaned against the counter. “What’re you up to?”

Ashe shrugged standing in the threshold between the kitchen and dining room as if she wanted to run, her fingers clutching the strap of her bag. The hum of the refrigerator filled the silence for a moment until she finally spoke, “I… I need to be somewhere else. Somewhere not here.”

He lifted his eyebrows, because while Ashe mostly kept herself to herself, she nearly always told him what was on her mind, provided they were alone. “Why?”

Another stretch of silence answered, and Thog debated putting on some coffee but was ultimately too afraid that she'd disappear like she never existed if he turned around.

She was, after all, the only reason he put up with having a house full of runaways.

Her voice was quieter this time, nearly swallowed by the ambient noise. “I… I lost my job, yesterday, I mean. They said they were downsizing. I just. I don't know. I don't know. I don’t have enough money to keep living here.”

Thog eyed her for a moment, before coming to a decision. “Wait here for five minutes, alright?”

She nodded, and he silently made his way back up to his room, gathering some things in a bag and sending a quick text to Dont, asking her to make sure his house didn't get burnt down while he was gone.

When he returned, she was still there, waiting, staring at the quietly buzzing light.

“Come on.”

She turned and stared, watching his journey across the living room and out the front door, before following. He locked the deadbolt and crossed the lawn to his car, opening the doors and sliding in before she spoke.

“What about your job?”

He tossed his bag in the back seat, on top of the blankets he kept back there with his jacket and started the car. “I work almost exclusively from my laptop, I can manage to be mobile for a few days.”

Ashe stared again, like she had that first day, as if she were trying to figure him out. She eventually shook her head and put her bag in the back. “Where are we going?”

Thog pulled out of his driveway and onto the deserted street, absently playing with the radio until it started blaring fuzzy classic rock at them. He rested his hand on the gear shift and pondered while he made his way through the maze of streets that made up their town. “Wherever you want, as long as you promise to come back with me. The money doesn't matter.”

A third stretch of silence settled for a long few moments, only broken up by the radio wavering. Finally, she settled into her seat, reaching over to rest her hand on his. “Alright.”

##

They’d been driving for a long time, a day and a half at least, the pine trees and greenery of the deep south had long since given away to the flat golden plains and then finally to the drab browns of the desert.

It was dark, and they were on a stretch of road that led through the middle of nowhere in New Mexico. Ashe had spent a lot of that time looking out the open window, her hair whipping around her face, with her feet curled beneath her or propped on the dash, and one of her hands wrapped around his as he shifted gears. The radio had gone out a while before, though neither of them had bothered to turn it off, allowing it to fill the car with quiet static.

Her fingers tightened around his and he glanced away from the empty stretch of asphalt that yawned before them, disappearing into the inky dark horizon to look at her.

“What is it?”

She put her free hand on the window, shifting to see out into the desert a little better, her voice soft and almost reverent. “Can you pull over?”

Thog nodded and obeyed, pulling off the cracked pavement and onto the dirt shoulder, putting the car in park and turning off the engine. Ashe let go of his hand, unbuckling her seatbelt and heaving herself out the window to climb onto the roof. He watched her go, reaching into the back for a blanket he knew she’d say she wouldn't need, before opening his door to perch on the frame of the vehicle, arms braced against the roof.

Ashe was draped over the top of the car, her hair stark against the black paint, staring up into the sky. She didn't move except to reach for his hand again when he tossed the blanket over her.

“What is it?”

She looked away from the sky for a moment and studied him. “Nothing. I just… I feel at peace here. Under the stars.”

Thog glanced up at the sky and understood her meaning.

There were hundred upon thousands of stars glittering overhead, painting swaths of light in the sky and looking close enough to touch. He looked back at Ashe, who’d curled up a little beneath the blanket and was still staring up into the sky, looking like some beautiful fey thing.

“All those stars up there, and I can’t look away from you.”

Silence met him for a long moment, and then she rolled over to face him, smacking his shoulder with her free hand and choking on laughter. “That was _terrible_.”

Nothing could stop the grin that spread across his face.

 

**Author's Note:**

> I think this might be the softest thing I've ever written, actually. Take that as you will. 
> 
> (also, they stopped near Quemado, New Mexico, if anyone's curious, on the way from Savannah, Georgia)


End file.
